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Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

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BioWare's Greg Zeschuk

Doctor in the house.

EurogamerThere's a lot of buzz around APB at the moment. How concerned are you about that MMO as a rival?
Greg Zeschuk

It's a different experience. Dave Jones and his team are very talented, they're very clever in what they're delivering in terms of execution.

The fun thing with the online space is that millions of people still play hardcore games and millions play free Flash games, yet there are probably 20 to 25 million people out there who haven't played an MMO. If we can deliver something exciting so people dust off their PC and get their mouse back out - that's our focus. If we deliver the game, the audience will come.

EurogamerI know Dr Ray is unwell today, so get well soon, Dr Ray. But I had wanted to ask him about a live Q&A he did with Eurogamer readers back in January, when he promised us some E3 reveals... With an exclamation mark and everything...
Greg Zeschuk

We revealed the PvP zone for Star Wars, and the player ships... So those are two reveals... So technically he was accurate.

EurogamerIt's not that you were planning on a bigger reveal, but then decided you weren't ready?
Greg Zeschuk

Oh no, this is pretty much what we expected. Players going hands-on with the game is pretty big for us, and for gamers as well. There was no mysterious gigantic reveal that didn't happen.

EurogamerDid you go to any of the platform holder conferences?
But will you be able to get off with your sister?
Greg Zeschuk

I did not. I had a press event and then I was just too weak the next morning, so I decided to watch football matches instead. But I'm pretty familiar - one of the benefits of being with EA is you tend to see a lot of things well in advance, so when stuff gets revealed it's not usually a big surprise.

EurogamerObviously the big story is the three technologies going head to head - Move, Kinect and 3DS. As a developer, which of those technologies are you most excited about?
Greg Zeschuk

That's a tough one. I love the no controller element but it's going to come down to execution, how precise and how good it is.

With regard to all these things, I worry about price points. Ray and I work on both the development and the business side, so we're excited from a game design perspective but we also look at the practical reality of making these technologies successful. If the price is too high, they won't take off.

We tend to be very conservative as a company, we don't jump right into these things. Our games are expansive, and they're expensive. They're complicated. We want to see how things are shaping up before we commit.

Both motion controllers will expand the audience. The 3DS is really interesting, I am always amazed at the cleverness of Nintendo. Just when everyone's going this way... There's always a sense they're kind of redoing what Nintendo already did five years ago. Their 3DS technology is very significant.

On the consumer side, 3D with glasses challenges. Are you suddenly going to spend all this money on glasses for everyone in the room, after you've bought an expensive new television? I think games are going to be the killer app pushing it, because really well augmented games are spectacular in 3D.

EurogamerBut it's down to the likes of you to make those games... Does looking at these new technologies immediately generate ideas for you?
Greg Zeschuk

Absolutely. Not so much the motion controller options, but let's say something to do with digital acting. So I play the shooter part of Mass Effect with a controller, then I have to do a dialogue with my hands.

EurogamerOr a love scene...
Greg Zeschuk

You never know! What excites me most is the high level of immersion that's going to be available. The same goes for 3D - the level of immersion is going to increase - and we have ideas for that. From a developer's perspective, you want to lead, but you don't want to lead too far out in front and take a giant risk.